KARACHI: The raging bull carried on its relentless run at the market for seventh consecutive session on Monday with the KSE-100 index gaining 604 points (1.83 per cent) and closing at 33,637.

Jubilant investors fell over one another to accumulate shares across the board in the lead of banks and individuals. The exuberance was on the back of positive news flow of Pakistan possibly managing to avoid the Financial Action Task Force’s black list and staying in the grey list.

Marketmen felt that in its review scheduled from13-18 October, the watchdog is likely to be satisfied over the country’s progress on most of the regulations that it was required to implement.

The investors’ sentiments have also continued to improve after the last week’s meeting of industry and business leaders with the army chief where they poured over grievances regarding the economic conditions. The index opened on a positive note reaching intraday high by 818 points.

The volume surged to 392 million shares which was the highest level seen in over 11 months from Oct 29, 2018. Daily traded value also jumped to $65m, up 35pc over the earlier session and highest since Aug 16.

Sector-wise, exploration and production stood out as the lead gainer where all three major scrips, Oil and Gas Development Company, Pakistan Oilfields and Pakistan Petroleum managed to close with varying gains.

Cyclical cement continued to command investors’ interest on anticipation of healthy numbers for dispatches and higher retail prices. Cherat and Pioneer hit their upper circuits, while Lucky gained 3.6pc and DG Khan rose 4.4pc. Bulls were all over banking with Bank Al Habib up 3.7pc, UBL 2.4pc, Meezan Bank 4.0pc, Habib Bank 0.4pc and MCB 1.2pc. Other scrips that added weight to the index included Fauji Fertiliser, Engro Corpor­ation, Mari Petroleum and Pakistan State Oil.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2019